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Flour, butter, and cream cheese - How does this expand?

Flour, butter, and cream cheese - How does this expand?

During Christmas I made a pastry which has a dough made of the things listed, with a filling of jams or whatever. What surprised me is that, though the dough is only those things and has no leavening in any form, they rise considerably. As much a 4 times the original width, when laid flat and unobstructed.

What in the world is causing this reaction?

The dough did sit overnight in the refrigerator. Could there be yeast floating around in my kitchen from all my bread baking which got in there? Can that even happen?

it expands as a result of (a) steam, (b) the hydration, swelling and cooking of the flour grains and the setting of their starches/proteins, and (c) the heat coagulation of the proteins in the cream cheese, which also form a matrix that captures steam generated during baking.

it's mixed to combine, and generally speaking you can either whip fat and sugar (creamed cake) or eggs and sugar (sponge cake) to incorporate air. the flour (well-sifted) is normally combined after the aeration takes place and after beaten egg (creamed cake) and flavorings have been incorporated into the mass. flour is really too dense to aerate with fat. woof! woof!

I wonder if the pH could have something to do with leavening, too? I've used a dough made with flour, sour cream and butter, and that expanded too, although not four-fold. From what I remember, it came out with small air pockets, somewhat larger than in shortbread. Both cream cheese and sour cream will have some lactic acid in them, would thatreact with something or decompose with heat to produce a bit of gas?

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